Luleå
Luleå
| Luleå | |||
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 Luleå
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| Coordinates: 65°36′N 22°9′E / 65.6°N 22.15°ECoordinates: 65°36′N 22°9′E / 65.6°N 22.15°E | |||
| Country | Sweden | ||
| Province | Norrbotten | ||
| County | Norrbotten County | ||
| Municipality | Luleå Municipality | ||
| Charter | 17th Century | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 28.81 km2 (11.1 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2005-12-31) | |||
| - Total | 45,467 | ||
| - Density | 1,578/km2 (4,087/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Website | www.lulea.se | ||
Luleå (help·info) (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈlʉːlɛo]; Lule sami: Luleju, Finnish: Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden with 45,467 inhabitants. It is the seat of Luleå Municipality and the capital of Norrbotten County.
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Geography
The town of Luleå is situated on a peninsula where Lule Bay meets the Gulf of Bothnia; the bay stretches northwest and becomes the Lule River, allowing sea-based transportation across the county. The town's location on the peninsula of Svartöstaden required expansion, and therefore much of its ground area of 2110 square kilometres is human-made. Luleå also has urban areas built on the island of Hertsön which, thanks to Luleå's location, is Sweden's 7th most populated.
The harbour of Luleå — Sweden's fifth-largest transporting over 7 million tons of cargo each year — is of particular significance for iron ore from LKAB's mining in Kiruna and Gällivare/Malmberget. During the winter, sea traffic continues at a virtually unchanged rate with the assistance of icebreakers; Luleå is the home port of the Swedish icebreaker armada.
Archipelago
Luleå archipelago contains over 700 islands. It's area extends to the county limit of Norrbotten/Västerbotten and the Sweden's national border with Finland . Archaeological expeditions have discovered many mazes which are widely believed to have been used for fertility and agricultural rituals. There are an estimated 300 mazes worldwide which share this distinct pattern, 100 of which are found on the islands of Luleå.
History
Luleå was already an important harbour in the 13-15th centuries.
The Royal charter was granted in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The original town was situated where Gammelstad (Old Town) is situated today. The town had to be moved in 1649 to the current site, due to the land elevation that had made the bay too shallow for ships to enter.
The Gammelstad Church Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 1887, a devastating fire destroyed most of the town, sparing only a few buildings. The Neo-Gothic Cathedral (originally the Oscar Fredrik church), dedicated in 1893, is at 67 meters (220 ft) the tallest building in town.
Economy
Luleå's commerce and industry is a mix of industry, research, education, trade, and services. The university's educational programmes have attracted new businesses as well as local offices for multinational corporations.
Major employers in the city are the SSAB steelworks and Luleå University of Technology. A Swedish Air Force wing, F 21 (or Norrbotten Air Force Wing), are stationed near Luleå at the neighbouring Luleå Airport. Other major employers include Ferruform (a subsidiary of Scania AB) and Gestamp HardTech (acquired from SSAB 2005-01-01).
IT industry
The information technology industry in Luleå has about 2000 employees (2008).
Luleå is the home of several major innovations and technological milestones.
- The First GSM Call (1989)
- The VDSL standard (2000–2007)
- Broadcast Radio – RDS, DAB, DARC (1992–1997)
- The Luleå algorithm for routing (1997)
- Living Labs – leading European service testbed with 6000 users (2001-)
- HDTV transport layer for telephony cabling (1996)
- Software GPS in mobile phones (2005-)
- OFDM – the basis for 4G (1990–2006)
- Marratech - pioneers in Internet-based E-meetings (1998-) - acquired by Google, releasing in November 2008 video-chat support in Gmail
- Arena project, IT in Sports – sensors, handheld wireless video (1999–2002)
- Estreet project - First large-scale mobile marketing experiment (2000)
Climate
Luleå has subarctic climate with short, mild summers and long, cold and snowy winters.
| Climate data for Luleå, Sweden | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | -8 (18) |
-8 (18) |
-2 (28) |
3 (37) |
10 (50) |
17 (63) |
19 (66) |
17 (63) |
12 (54) |
6 (43) |
-1 (30) |
-5 (23) |
5 (41) |
| Average low °C (°F) | -16 (3) |
-16 (3) |
-11 (12) |
-4 (25) |
2 (36) |
8 (46) |
11 (52) |
10 (50) |
5 (41) |
1 (34) |
-7 (19) |
-13 (9) |
-2.5 (27.5) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 34 (1.34) |
30 (1.18) |
31 (1.22) |
29 (1.14) |
32 (1.26) |
37 (1.46) |
46 (1.81) |
64 (2.52) |
63 (2.48) |
46 (1.81) |
51 (2.01) |
45 (1.77) |
508 (20) |
| Source: | |||||||||||||
Media
Newspapers
- Norrbottens-Kuriren
- Norrländska Socialdemokraten
Transportation
Local buses are run by Luleå LLT.
Culture
Luleå has a variety of cultural institutions, amongst them Norrbottensteatern, Norrbottens museum, and Norrbotten big band led by Tim Hagans. In January 2007 the Cultural house (Kulturens Hus) was opened. A library, concerts, and art exhibitions are all hosted here. It is also home to the hardcore punk band Raised Fist and melodic death metal band The Duskfall.
Sports
Luleå has many teams competing in a variety of sports including:
Football
- Bergnäsets AIK
- IFK Luleå
- Lira Luleå BK
- Luleå SK
- Notvikens IK
Ice hockey
- Luleå HF (who play in the Elitserien)
Basketball
- LF Basket Norrbotten, formerly Plannja, for men and Luleå Basket for women; Plannja has won Basketligan 7 times, which is a record).
In Luleå there is also an American football team, the Luleå Eskimos. The Swedish Championship in Yukigassen is held in Luleå annually.
Shopping
Luleå is home to one of the oldest indoor shopping centres in the world, "Shopping" opened in 1955 and designed by British born architect Ralph Erskine. More recent additions to the city scape are the shopping centres "Strand, Smedjan, Folksamhuset" and the first "youth-galleria" in Sweden, "Storgatan 61", located in the city centre. There are two main shopping streets in the city centre: Storgatan and Kungsgatan.
A new shopping area in the industrial area of Storheden outside the city was more recently built and houses several large stores.
UNESCO World heritage
- Gammelstad Church Town
Notable people
- Breach, Swedish Hardcore-band
- Ingvar Wixell, Swedish baritone opera singer
- John W. Nordstrom, founder of department store chain Nordstrom
- Kyrpe, A legendary Swedish computergamer
- Leif Östling, CEO of Scania AB
- Lena Granhagen, Swedish actress
- Machinae Supremacy, Swedish Metal band
- Marita Ulvskog, Politician
- Martin Ljung, Actor
- Maud Adams, Swedish actress best known for appearing in two James Bond films
- Movits!, Swedish Hip-Hop band
- Per Ledin, Swedish ice hockey player
- Raised Fist, Swedish Hardcore-band
- The Bear Quartet, Swedish Rockband
- The Duskfall, Swedish Deathmetalband
See also
- Swedish iron ore during World War II
- Luleå Cathedral
- Diocese of Luleå
- ^ a b c "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005" (in Swedish) (xls). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/statistik/MI/MI0810/2005A01B/T%c3%a4torternami0810tab1.xls. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ World-class Innovations in ICT, Luleå university of Technology, 2007, http://www.cdt.ltu.se/main.php/LTU237%206-sid%20Folder%20ICT_lo.pdf?fileitem=2365519[dead link]
- ^ (English) "Institute of Meteorology and Water Management". www.worldclimateguide.co.uk. http://www.worldclimateguide.co.uk/climateguides/sweden/lulea.php#.
- ^ [1]
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Luleå is one of 133 places with the historical city status in Sweden. |
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